English Do Not Want Scottish Independence

The English are opposed to Scottish independence (Reuters/Jeff J Mitchell UK)Reuters

English people do not support Scottish independence, though they would allow Scotland to control its own finances, according to a new survey.

Just 22 percent of the 1,507 English people surveyed by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) thinktank supported the prospect of Scots breaking up the union.

In contrast, a whopping 80 percent of the respondents were in favour of Scotland having full fiscal autonomy.

There is also a suggestion that an English parliament would be welcome, with 79 percent saying they do not think Scottish MPs should be able to vote on English laws.

"It seems reasonable to assume that part of the story reflects a growing perception within England that the English get a raw deal from the devolution settlement," said the IPPR report, "The Dog that Finally Barked: England as an Emerging Political Community", which contained the survey.

"There is an increasingly strong tendency in England to believe that Scotland gets more than its 'fair share' of public spending," the report said.

"Indeed, the number of people who believe this has more than doubled in the last decade."

Scotland's independence is back at the fore after a recent political battle between the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the UK government.

Senior members of the SNP's Scottish government, which is still ruled by Westminster, accused British Prime Minister David Cameron of trying to interfere in a proposed Scottish referendum on independence.

Cameron indicated he would put a time limit on a date by which the referendum would have to be completed, as well as a set of rules on how the question is framed.

Upsurge in Englishness

English people are feeling increasingly English over British, the IPPR survey found.

The proportion of the population that prioritises being English over their British identity is 40 percent - more than twice as many than those who prioritise being British over English, which is 16 percent.

Furthermore, 60 percent of respondents said they believe the English are becoming more aware of their Englishness.

"Despite the exhortations of successive governments that have focused exclusively on Britishness, it is clear that, at the popular level, it is Englishness that resonates most," said Richard Wyn Jones, professor of politics at Cardiff University and co-author of the IPPR report.